Buckner Missionaries Reach Out to Chatinos, Mixtecos

(OAXACA, Mexico) — A group of 38 mission volunteers who traveled to Mexico last year may have been the first U.S. teams to visit the Chatinos and Mixtecos in the coast of Oaxaca. They returned this year under the Buckner flag.

Under a steady downpour of rain, the missionaries from five churches around the state painted, hosted Vacation Bible School, conducted conferences on family relationships, distributed 214 pairs of Shoes for Orphan Souls and showed evangelical films.

The team members traveled with suitcases stuffed with shoes for the children. The shoes were distributed in the villages of La Luz Tututepec and San Marcos Zacatepec.

“On one evening we showed a film called ‘Chavos Bandas’ about abuse and the dysfunctional families that victimize many of the street kids in Mexico City before they escape,” said Director of Ministry Development in Mexico Dexton Shores.

“It was a powerful film about how a young man was continuously abused by his alcoholic dad. One of the Chatino men identified with the protagonist and accepted Christ at the end of the film expressing his desire for God to transform his life so that he could be a good dad to his children. The following day during the VBS, three more women accepted Christ.”

The teams painted the complete interior of a middle school in La Luz, Oaxaca. They sent in money so that the community people could paint the outside of the school when the rain stopped.

“The president of the Parents Association of the school broke down and cried twice trying to express their appreciation for what this meant to the families with small children,” Shores said. “We also left money to paint the municipal agency building in San Marcos Zacatepec as well as the logos on the elementary school of San Marcos.”

Last year, the missionaries provided water purification units for local families.

For more information on Buckner in Mexico, contact Dexton Shores at (210) 771-2904.